Statins for Ischemic Systolic Heart Failure

Hydroxymethylglutaryl–coenzyme A reductase inhibitors (statins) represent one of the most important pharmacologic advances in the prevention of cardiovascular disease in decades. Since the publication of the Scandinavian Simvastatin Survival Study in 1994,1 several trials have demonstrated important benefits of statins in patients with established coronary disease. These findings have resulted in strong recommendations for the use of statins in clinical-practice guidelines.2 Statins are one of the few classes of drugs that are embedded in clinical-performance measures for coronary artery disease, which indicates that clinicians should be considered remiss if they do not prescribe these agents for all their eligible patients. . . .